I don't get the hate for this game at all. I feel like a lot of gamers nowadays have lost sight of what gaming is supposed to be about, which is having fun and being open to trying new and different things that are outside the usual. I get the feeling that if this was a graphical stunner to some people that alone would go a long way towards making people more open to everything the game is already doing. Much superior graphics alone would signal 'fun' or competence to people.
If nothing else, this game should get credit for the risks it takes. It takes some real creative risks, it's pretty damn ambitious in some areas that I like, such as traversal and magical combat. I see combat in this game as playing like a singleplayer story driven MMO, just with a lot of style and emphasis on traversal and magic.
The only aspect of what anybody has said negatively about this game that I'm inclined to agree with is that the dialogue seems pretty weak to bad, but all else doesn't strike me as being nearly as bad as it is being made out to be, especially visually. Is it different from what people would want or expect? Absolutely, but I don't find this game to be that terrible looking a game visually at all.